Bhubaneswar: The Odisha and Andhra Pradesh Police Friday decided to conduct joint operations and share information to effectively combat the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the border areas of the two states, officials said.
This was decided in a meeting attended by Odisha DGP R P Sharma, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart R P Thakur and other senior police officers of both the states engaged in anti-Maoist operations, they said.
“We discussed on enhancing the inter-state coordination and cooperation, particularly conducting joint operations in the core areas like the cut-off area in Malkangiri district to effectively combat and contain the LWE menace,” Sharma said.
“Sharp vigil will be kept on the recently-inaugurated Gurupriya bridge in Malkangiri district through drone cameras. A meeting with the SPs of Maoist-hit districts will be held every month. Besides, DGPs of Maoist-affected states will hold discussion over the matter each month,” said Sharma.
Deployment of more security forces in Maoist-affected areas will be sought from the Centre, the top cop said.
He said the inter-state coordination meeting between the two states was fruitful.
The Andhra Pradesh DGP said: “We discussed about infrastructural requirement in border areas. We have fixed the priority of things to be taken up immediately within our governments or with the Centre.”
“Infrastructure for police on Odisha-Andhra border will be strengthened. Better coordination will be kept between Police and Intelligence Department. In view of the upcoming elections, special attention will be given towards the security of politicians,” Thakur added.
“Wide range of issues including anti-LWE operations in the inter-state border, intelligence collection and sharing of tactical deployment of security forces along the inter-state border and such other issues were discussed in the meeting,” said a senior official.
The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of Maoists killing two TDP leaders including a sitting MLA, at a place in Andhra Pradesh, barely 15 km from Odisha border, last month.
The Andhra Pradesh police sources believe that the ultras fled to Odisha and Telengana.
PNN